For 40 days Tim, commitment challenged and serial lady killer, and Jessica, hopeless romantic on the hunt for “the one,” will become a couple to discover if they can change their bad habits and make sense of the ever-elusive emotion, “love.” And we get to watch. HELLLO newest reality addiction.

Every day a new “episode” will be revealed on their website documenting their journey with questionnaires, pictures and all kinds of crazy challenges, like holding hands for 8 hours straight…They also enlisted 80 designers /illustrators/artists to contribute a typographic piece that will live on the website to represent each day (2 designers a day).

Be sure to keep an EYE out for some Sharpie cameos! Image via Darren Newman

Before you go thinking “PSH what’s to keep this thing going?” Oh, there are rules. Major rules. As in, I don’t think I have ever seen my boyfriend for 40 days-in-a-row…

Episode one starts right now… Head over to Forty Days of Dating and check out Jessica and Tim’s first date! Be sure to check back EVERY.DAY for all the boy/girl dramaffair (new word. Made it up. I think it works.)

What do you think? Will it stick? Are these two destined to be permanently attached at the hip (had to) or doomed for failure?

We are doing our own half time show and checking back in with Tim and Jessica on July 29th and we want to hammer them with questions– so let us know what YOU want to know! We will all get answers on July 29th!

What do Sharpie, Tupac Shakur and Timothy Goodman have in common? One heck of a live art mural in none other than hotter-than-hot, Las Vegas!

This amazing wall mural Tim created for FlexFit Headwear at the MAGIC S.L.A.T.E. trade show in Las Vegas back in August is just the latest in Tim’s amazing hand lettering feats (remember these!?!). FlexFit is a headwear company located in Los Angeles that—like all the companies at the MAGIC show—appeals to the urban or ‘streetwear’ fashion community.

FlexFit challenged Tim to come up with an idea for a mural that he would draw, real-time, during the first day of the show. Tim’s focus was based around creating not only a great piece of work but an entire experience for people stopping by, “While it was important that the mural was relative to the culture of both FlexFit and MAGIC, I also wanted to create an experience for the passersby that wasn’t too literal to the brand.”And boy, did he! Just check out the video below!

image via Timothy Goodman

Get the full low-down on Tim’s website along with EVEN more photos from the event!

It’s that time of year again! Allow me the IMMENSE honor of introducing you to the 2012 Sharpie Squad! Over the past 3 years we have showcased some of our FINEST fans and this year is no different! From amazing artwork to customized sneakers and too-cool-for-school rides- these ultra-fine folks are jazzed to share how they are starting with Sharpie with you!

Scroll on down to get to know these 12 talented Sharpie fanatics and be sure to check back on the reg’ for news, updates and awe-inspiring ideas straight from the Sharpie’s mouth!

Aimee Alexander

At just 3-months-old Aimee traced the pattern of her grandmother’s shirt with her tiny finger, and eventually moved on to crayons, finger paint, glitter and Sharpie of course! . Aimee discovered the professional art world at the age of 12 on a trip to San Francisco for a friend’s graduation from fashion design school and hasn’t looked back since. Aimee studied art at Sacramento State University and moved to the San Francisco bay area where she started Artisticle, a fabulous website where Aimee shares her Sharpie creations! Check it out and follow Aimee socially as spends her time coloring and participating in art shows and festivals around northern California!

Alyse Dietel

Alyse grew up in San Mateo, California and started drawing when she was still in her cradle! Her mom made an art table for her when she was three and it took off from there! Alyse loves surrealism and her favorite artist is Salvador Dali. To her, art is not about drawing what you see, but creating what doesn’t exist anywhere but in your mind. She balances her passion for art with her other passions which include rock climbing and the enjoying the outdoors. She’s a big fan of nature, and is even currently majoring in Environmental Studies at Northern Arizona University.

Amanda Shupp

The majority of Amanda’s abstract work is done with her Sharpie Paint Markers, and Sharpie Permanent Markers. She’s always loved drawing with Sharpies, dating back to high school when she’d cover an entire page in her note book with drawings. These days, she sets out to cover an entire canvas, piece of paper, or table top with free flowing colorful designs. This lady doesn’t plan any of her creations; she simply just goes with the flow and lets her marker guide her. Her favorites are the large scale pieces she creates and would love to cover an entire wall with her art someday! Amanda is also an avid animal lover and enjoys spending my time at the beach with her friends and, of course, her pets. Keep up with Amanda by checking in on her through social networks!

Chris Dunlop is an accomplished artist best known for his Sharpie Art Cars. Chris began as an airbrush artist and custom painter and later picked up pin-striping and Sharpie art. Many of the cars Chris has customized have been featured in publications such as Yahoo!, MSN, Sharpie.com, AutoBlog, LSX Tv, and many others. He’s spent the past several years developing his skills at custom paint shops around the country and now resides in California working at CW Restoration Shop. Chris is a devoted artist that loves what he does and spends much of his time practicing his art, but also loves to skateboard and spend time with his wife, Caitlin. Wanna know more? Then take a ride through his social portfolio:

Darion Cortez

Darion Cortez is a 21-year-old aspiring shoe designer who loves to be creative and draw the crazy, wild, and fun things the dance in his mind. He has been drawing since he can remember and has loved Sharpie markers for just as long! Follow Darion in real time on Twitter!

Drew Michael

Drew Michael is a 20-year-old senior currently studying at Ohio University. He graduated with his associate’s degree in graphic design and is now pursuing a bachelor’s degree in studio art. Drew loves using all different types of media to create his art and works on various different surfaces – one of them being his favorite, shoes! Drew focuses on his work every day and continues to try new things with his art and learn to expand his horizons. Get to know this college cutie even better by checking out all of his channels:

John Clark

John Clark is a Michigan based portrait artist. He spends most of his time doing two things, making his wife laugh and washing Sharpie ink from his fingers. He knows a bit too much about things that won’t help him in the least, like comic books, video games, and classic 80′s wrestling, and as far back as he can remember, he’s been obsessed with drawing faces. Currently he creates black and white, film noir inspired, Sharpie portraits on old book pages. He’s pretty sure he’s the only one that does that. See his work at www.johnclark.etsy.com or at www.society6.com/johnclark.

Lauren Seal

Lauren Seal is a 21-year-old student from Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. She is a senior at Mississippi State University where she is studying to become a physical therapist once she graduates! Lauren has expressed herself through her art art for as long as she can remember and even began her education as an major! She took a Sharpie to her first pair of Converse shoes when she was in high school and has created more than twenty different pairs of canvas shoes since! Lauren values her Sharpie collection so much that she tries to use them in just about every piece of art she creates. She even used them to color a drum set once! Lauren is inspired by everything around her, and her creativity never stops and is excited to be a part of the 2012 Squad to help her to continue to grow as an artist. This sassy little lady is rockin’ the social space, kick it with Lauren and follow her by clicking below!

Melissa Dalton

Melissa Dalton started her love affair with Sharpie on March 8th 2007 when she got her very first package for her birthday. She used them to draw all over, drawing cartoons and eventually, as she realized their potential, she started using them to draw psychedelic artworks and even a 70 page comic called Under the Bed. Melissa is currently enrolled at the University of Nevada, majoring in Art and she still loves drawing with Sharpie to this day, OBVIOUSLY, it’s what she is here– check out all of her comic genius by checking out her sites below!

Sara Holt

Sara Holt is an award winning artist who works in various mediums including drawing, painting, writing, and photography. Her work is internationally published and collected and she was even a Featured Director on The Independent Film Channel for her short animated film, “In the Mourning”. Check out more of Sara’s work by checking where else she plays on the world wide web!

Timothy Goodman

Timothy is a designer, illustrator, and an art director based in New York City. Currently he runs his own studio, working on a variety of design and illustration projects for clients such as the Ace Hotel, Apple Inc., New York Public Library, Newsweek, The New York Times, Time magazine, and Suntrust Bank. Previously, Timothy worked in-house at Apple Inc., where he helped integrate Apple’s visual language, domestically and internationally, across third party environments, retail stores, events and campaign launches. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Timothy graduated from the School of Visual Arts in NYC, where he now teaches. Wanna know even more about this stylin’ city fella? Just get to clickin’ below:

Zehra Ali

Zehra is an 18-year-old college freshman who grew up in the States, and just last year, moved to Saudi Arabia (!!!). Zehra is passionately obsessed with music, drawing much of her inspiration from it. She began creating Sharpie art as a means to express herself and used doodling as a creative outlet to purge the ideas in her head into something beautiful. With her art, Zehra hopes she is able to enlighten someone or at least bring a smile onto someone’s face, which we think she does beautifully! Follow this Sharpie muse right here…

When Sharpie advocate Mark Rivard gets tired of illustrating skateboards he gets a little crazy (A GOOD CRAZY!). His new painting takes “Sharpie Art” to a whole new level. Mark shared his process with us and the resulting painting spawned an entire new series from Rivard. Rivard took some time to share with us a little more about what drives his creative process and how he’s evolving from his skateboard roots…

I was sitting around the studio one day just waiting for an idea to hit and I noticed my trash was overflowing. I had a number of empty cans just waiting for somebody to clean them up and instead of doing just that, I piled them onto a canvas and starting dripping layer after layer of paint over them. (Inspiration really can strike anywhere…)

After a few weeks of layering paint the result was really interesting to me. You had to really look closely to see what the object was under the paint. It had a very Jackson Pollock style and lose feel that I was very attracted to and I wanted to explore further. I started doing other objects like cassette tapes, old cell phones, wine corks, and even a pair of stilettos.

I was really enjoying the concept and seeing a series developing. I’ve started to do some of these paintings with product and branding in mind as well. I looked at companies that are using artist as tools to promote their product, then looked at the color and shape of the actual product and created an interesting mix of product and fine art. It didn’t take long for me notice the extremely large stock of Sharpie’s lying around my studio and the second the idea hit, I was off and running. For this particular piece there are about 30 or so Sharpies under, roughly, 50 layers of diluted acrylic.

The interesting thing is this painting is still changing and evolving long after I put the final signature on it. The ink from the sharpies took on a life of it’s own and began to release from the pens which created a really unique affect.

That’s my favorite thing about art, when you open your mind up all of the sudden art is everywhere. A pen isn’t just a writing tool in the right hands, it’s a possibility!

Sharpie has joined in on the newest and fastest growing social media platform, Pinterest and is making its mark and wanting to share yours!

Stop by and show us what you're starting! http://pinterest.com/sharpieuncapped/

In case you haven’t been on this fast growing and addicting social media darling, Pinterest is best described as a vision board-styled photo sharing website and app where users can create and manage theme-based image collections.

Pinterest’s mission statement is “to connect everyone in the world through shared tastes and the “things” they find interesting.” Which is exactly what users are doing! People are using Pinterest to help plan their weddings, decorate their homes, organize favorite recipes, build fashion archives and more. By labeling and creating theme-based image boards, users populate their own boards with inspiring images and videos found online using the “Pin It” button

Check out Sharpie on Pinterest and be sure to “follow” all the different boards to stay inspired and up-to-date AND tag us in your Sharpie creations so we can check out what you’re starting with Sharpie.

BUT be sure to brush up on all the pinning rules and regs prior to getting “pin-it fever”! For more information on Pinterest, to get an invite and get started visit their help page!

Sharpie Squad member, Laura Kelly, may be one of the cheeriest bloggers we have had the pleasure of working with! For the past 3 years she has brightened the Sharpie world by guest blogging and sharing her Sharpie love with the world (and across the country, in this case); so, what better way to celebrate the season than to share Laura’s cheer with you all!

What better way to spread BRIGHT and happy love this holiday season than to add a little Sharpie fun to my already planned adventure across the country from North Carolina to California. With my backpack full of Sharpie markers to give away, sketchbooks and other random Sharpie gear, I grabbed my stuff and made my way to RDU to meet my long time BFF and get on our way.

Ready to jet set!

We started in Raleigh, North Carolina on a beautiful sunny morning. Having arrived at the airport earlier than necessary we decided to grab breakfast at the super yummy 42nd Street in terminal C. When our server arrived, we informed her that she was the first lucky Sharpie winner. From the large plastic tub of Sharpie markers, she chose green as her favorite and I used it to draw a quick “Me and My Peep” character of herself. Our first stop was Boston and while there, I left the tub of Sharpie markers on my chair in Delta’s Sky Lounge while going to get some fresh veggies and a refreshing beverage. Upon my return, I found the chair empty and heard the following over the loudspeaker, “Will the owner of the Sharpies please come to the front. Your Sharpies have been turned it.” I dashed to get them and was told that I was lucky to get them back, that sometimes valuable left like weren’t so fortunate as to be returned to their owners, like laptops and cell phones. She was one smart concierge; she sure knew the value of the Sharpie pen collection! I doodled a few things for some of the “business” travelers and witnessed a few overly dressed and somewhat pretentious professionals shift from uppity bumps on logs to open, connected and interesting regular folk. Who knew that a little Sharpie doodling and laughter could create a table of new acquaintances swapping holiday stories and plans while swapping Sharpie markers from my tub to keep or take back to loved ones at home. My favorite guy took four, two for each daughter (pink/purple and chartreuse/lime green).

Throughout the day, from airport to airport and on the planes; I sketched “Me and My Peeps” for those around me and made LOTS of new friends. The most popular colors taken from my collection were bright pink, lime green, red, black and purple. I got to hear so many great stories about the ways people use their Sharpies, how amazing their artistic children are with Sharpies, what kind of Sharpies they wish they had more of and so much more. I even got to doodle one of my all-time favorite men, Santa Claus. He asked me if I wanted more Sharpie markers in my stocking to which I replied, “OF COURSE I DO!

On Saturday morning we went shopping and I doodled along the way. The workers in the t-shirt shop were psyched to get their own “Me and My Peep” drawn and put them on display behind the register.

The dude working at the San Francisco Bath Salt store was another proud owner of his “Me and My Peep” and more than excited about the possibility of showing up in this blog. He was definitely a SILVER Sharpie marker kind of guy…with a sparkly personality to match!

During the day on Saturday, I took my Sharpie collection along for our outing to Alcatraz, thinking I might be able to graffiti a little in the cells…JUST KIDDING! While doodling in line I found a fellow Sharpie marker user…the girl assigned the job of marking our tickets! She was happy as could be when I replaced hers with a new sharp tipped red and happily let me photograph her in action. She said she wished she could use purple but that red was her only choice. I gave her a purple to use on personal time. She gave me a hug. I call that a GOOD DEAL! The boat trip over was a bit choppy so I kept my tub packed up and enjoyed the ride!

That evening we attended a wine tasting and once again, my tub was a hit! The tasters used the markers for their customer tasting notes. Personally, I recommend the 2010 Mendocino! It gained a bright red Sharpie heart on my notes!

On Sunday morning, I left a black Sharpie marker with a doodled up message on the paper machine. I watched from afar while people stopped to read it and chat up their Sharpie stories. Finally it was taken by a teenage girl who stated as she ripped it from the machine, “I think someone left this here for me.” She was right. I guess I did.

That afternoon while shopping at Pier 33 and strolling Fisherman’s Wharf, I took a break to sit down and sketch only to find myself surrounded with people who waited in line for their turn to get sketched. It was crazy fun. I passed out Sharpies and smiles at the same time. Some wanted to know where my tip jar was and I laughed. Can you imagine, drawing “Me and My Peeps” for tips. I do it for fun…for the mere pleasure of spreading cheer. Once inside Boudans to buy some sourdough bread, we decided to head upstairs and grab a bite. I put my tub of Sharpie markers on the bar while I dug in my backpack for my wallet and the man next to me said, “Wow, you are so lucky. You have so many Sharpies.” I chatted with him and ended up giving him a few doodle tips. He practiced his skills on the postcards he was writing back home to his grandmother in Sweden. When I gave him the handful he used for his masterpieces, he reacted as if he won the lottery. He gave me the cheek and then the other cheek European kiss and then was whisked off with his mate to his table to eat.

I was then requested to draw the bartender and the girl on our other side so happily doodled some more, handed out some more love in the form of Sharpie marker, then celebrated my new friendships with a little time trading stories before heading back out to the piers.

I continued to doodle and hand out the markers until they were all gone. I was invited to new places to meet strangers’ families, speak to their schools and illustrate their stories into books. I was thanked for sharing myself, for offering inspiration and for reminding people that they too were born to create…that doodling counts too and that they are already qualified!

I learned a lot from my adventure. The most important lesson that I was reminded of through this attempt to spread bright holiday love was that people from all over the world, of all ages and in all sizes love the joy that comes through creation and imagination. I was reminded that although I am often teased for being a doodle artist, my gift is unique and it makes a difference in the world we share.

Together with paper, Sharpie markers and strangers…we can connect, grow and care about others.

MERRY HOLIDAYS! May your celebrations be filled with lots of BRIGHT, CHEERY and HAPPY CREATIVE LOVE!

To keep with Laura and see where else her Sharpie travels take her be sure to check out her website and find her on Facebook!

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuude! So call me lame but that’s the first thing that pops into my mind when I think about skateboarding. I’m sure the skaters of the world would prefer I not refer to them as dudes, mostly because dude has a somewhat negative connotation, as in slacker, lazy, wandering, aimless – you know, The Big Lebowski kind of dude.

Dude or no dude, fact is there are more than 20 million skateboarders in the U.S., most of them under the age of 24. These dudes (which I mean only in the coolest way) ride their boards for lots of reasons, among them this one that I thought was particularly insightful extracted from the dclaim blog: Carving out creative lines under cloudless skies.

I get it. Like sky writing and more. Skateboarding IS an art. So is it any surprise that this daring form of self-expression should also find its way onto the skateboards themselves?

Sharpie has a dude (well, we are sort of just borrowing him) — an acclaimed skateboard artist who takes no offense at the term because his amazing art speaks for itself. Meet Mark Rivard. Mark currently appears in Sharpie’s new advertising campaign alongside one of his amazing skateboards and the Sharpie MINI Markers he used to create it.

Mark got his start designing skateboards after a serious skiing accident left him with time to ponder — and practice — his art. In his own words, borrowed from Mark’s website:

Skateboards are the cornerstone of my work. They are what sparked my re-interest in art. We’ve all heard skaters say “Skateboarding saved my life.”, well in my situation it was a skateboard that literally altered the direction of the rest of my life. I don’t think I would have died if I had never started skateboarding but I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for that first board and that first sketch.

Mark’s story is a good one, so we put together a video where Mark takes us behind-the-scenes and shares with us the details of how he came to discover his passion and the true mission of his life:

Something else you should know about Mark. We’ve been working with him for awhile now as part of his participation in the Sharpie Squad, and he gets our vote for best-skateboard-artist-all-around-greatest-guy-ever! It’s awesome to be able to point you to someone so deserving of all the praise. Mark is one nice guy…he’s the duuuuuuuuude!

Cheeming Boey is a California-based artist who has gained notarity for the AMAZING art he creates on coffee cups. By combining two very simple things, paper cups and Sharpie Pens, he ceates museum-worthy masterpieces that continue to ignite interest around the globe. In the same way that Warhol made soup cans famous, Boey is pushing the limits of pop culture with his coffee cups.

Not only has Cheeming been busy busting out amazing new work and ad campaigns, he has also just returned from a nine-week stint driving around the U.S. and documenting his travels comic book-style– complete with video highlights– while also working on his literary debut, funded completely through Kickstarter.

We all know there are millions of ways to express yourself using Sharpie, right!? Especially with the WIDE variety of products,colors and tips, the options are endless for what you can start with Sharpie. Well, to get the ideas flowing we teamed up with Us Weekly to come up with 100 different ways to Uncap What’s Inside!

Us Weekly then chose three of these ideas and made them into unique ads that are running in this week’s edition, so be sure to grab a copy, on stands now, to see these one-of-a-kind magazine ads or if you can’t wait that long, just scroll on…